House Democrats plan marathon public reading of 448-page Mueller report; 'It's not a ploy,' lawmaker insists

California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa weighs in on Democrats’ continued push for Attorney General Bill Barr to release the full Mueller report.

More than 20 House Democrats are planning a grueling 12-hour-long public reading of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation in its entirety, except for the redacted parts, on Thursday.

At the forefront of the spectacle is Pennsylvania Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon, vice chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, who’s been rallying other Democrats to join her in the public reading of the report that found no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, though it also noted there are 10 instances that could qualify as an obstruction of justice.

“We’ve been saying for weeks that if you think there was no obstruction and no collusion, you haven’t read the Mueller report. So the ongoing quest has been, ‘How do we get that story out there while we are waiting for the witnesses to come in?’"

— Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.

“We’ve been saying for weeks that if you think there was no obstruction and no collusion, you haven’t read the Mueller report. So the ongoing quest has been, ‘How do we get that story out there while we are waiting for the witnesses to come in?’" Scanlon told the Washington Post.

In a statement her office circulated to the media, she said that the Mueller report “illustrates a presidency founded in opportunism, devoid of respect for public service and the rule of law” and that “this administration and its enablers do not want the American people hear the contents of this report.”

The Mueller report is available to the public to read. The Democrats who will participate in the marathon reading will be reading the exact same copy of the report.

The House Judiciary Committee recently subpoenaed the DOJ for the full unredacted report and its underlying materials, a demand that was rejected by Attorney General Bill Barr. The Committee, in response, voted last week to hold Barr in contempt.

Scanlon told the newspaper that it will take about 12 to 14 hours to go through all 448 pages of the report, with her colleagues dividing up the reading shifts. The report will be read in the House Rules Committee Room and will be live-streamed. The recording then will be made into an audiobook.

Among other participants in the public reading will be Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Jamie Raskin.

Scanlon also denied that she and her fellow Democrats are engaging in a political stunt, saying “It’s not a ploy to keep anything going.”

“The Mueller report was a mandate from the Department of Justice that there be an investigation into these very troubling aspects about what was happening in our government,” she told the outlet. “So you know, it may be inconvenient, it may be time-consuming, but it’s what we have to do.”

Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com

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